Second Chances
by Hieirulesall
Summary: The Toguro Team is given a second chance at life, but to earn it they must spend time living with the Spirit Detective Team and prove they have changed. Arguments are inevitable with such a group, but can any of them survive such confinement?
1. Chapter 1

First of all, I have a challenge to issue for those who are interested, so even if you don't like the story, be sure to check it out and see if you're interested. Second, this is my first story in a very long time, so please forgive me if I'm a bit rusty. This fic came about when I was mourning the lack of Yusuke and Toguro fics (and the lack of Toguro fics in general). Please keep all that in mind while reading and know that it should get a lot better once I get back into the swing of writing.

This takes place several months after the Dark Tournament.

Chapter 1: Give Me One Good Reason

If Yusuke hadn't heard it with his own two ears, he wouldn't have believed it. Not in a million years would he have believed what Koenma was asking of him. At first he hoped it was a joke, but much as the prince liked to joke around, he would never joke about something like this.

"So, basically, you're telling me that you want to give the entire Toguro team a chance at a new life…" Yusuke said quietly, feeling the need to make sure he had gotten everything right. "But for them to be brought back to life completely, there has to be a way to prove that they've changed. To prove that, they have to spend a certain amount of time with their enemies and not kill them. So, you want me, Kuwabara, Hiei, and Kurama to spend time with them and pray that we don't end up dead. Do I have everything?" Yusuke asked. While his voice was calm, he was absolutely on the verge of completely flipping out.

Nearby, the younger Toguro brother stood patiently, not having said a word the entire time. With the exception of Koenma, the two of them were the only ones present in the room. It was an absence that Yusuke wholeheartedly missed. What he wouldn't give for Kurama to calm him and Kuwabara to shout at Koenma for him. Not to mention Hiei, who would find the situation as ridiculous as Yusuke did.

"Yes, that's it. To be quite honest, I'm surprised you're taking this so well," Koenma admitted.

That was all it took to unleash the floodgates. "Are you absolutely out of your goddamned mind!" Yusuke shouted furiously. "I'll show you calm, you horrible excuse for a ruler! You just asked me to spend time with and let loose on the world the four people who made my life miserable for several months. To release the worst enemies I've ever had! Obviously you've been hit over the head way too many times Koenma!" After several moments of shouting, the Spirit Detective finally calmed down and sighed. "Was that calm enough for you?"

Koenma still looked a little shocked from the outburst, but knew better than to stay silent for too long. "Yusuke, I'm asking you seriously. I'm not saying that you have to become best friends. I'm asking for a week or two with them. If they do anything to put your life or the lives of your team at risk, you may absolutely cancel the arrangement immediately."

"Give me one good reason," Yusuke growled, eyes darting over to Toguro before coming back to land on those of his boss. "I'm telling you right now, Koenma, give me one good reason why they should go free. Because for every one reason you could give me, I'll give you a reason why they shouldn't. A week? I don't even need a day to tell you that they belong where they are."

"That's not like you Yusuke," Koenma informed him. "You've never been vindictive. Not like that. I thought you believed in second chances. They probably saved you, after all."

This was what shut Yusuke up. Second chances. He opened his mouth to give a retort, but found he really had nothing to say to that. He wanted to tell Koenma that some people didn't deserve a second chance, but knew that there were many who would have said the exact same thing about him.

"Don't you have anything to say?" he suddenly asked, turning towards Toguro. Yusuke didn't like the man's silence. In some ways it was worse than having to talk to him.

"I am not a changed man, Yusuke," Toguro informed him. "I will promise not to attempt to kill you in any way, but I am still very much who I was before. It's up to you to decide."

"You're not asking me to accept?" Yusuke asked, shocked at this statement.

"No, I am not."

Yusuke eyed Toguro suspiciously before turning back to Koenma. "If I accept, I'm accepting for my whole team, right?" Koenma nodded. "Kuwabara's gonna kill me."

"Does that mean you'll do it?" Koenma asked, looking hopeful.

"Sure, why the hell not?" Yusuke asked, displaying much more of his usual attitude. "I might die along the way, but it's definitely more interesting than destroying Kuwabara in a video game fifty times a day."

((-))

Yusuke was surprised to learn that they would be staying in a small house in the human world for the length of this little adventure. Though, small was a relative term, given that there was going to be a total of eight of them living in the house and each had a separate room. So really, it was quite a large house, however the people that would be living in it would make it seem rather small.

By the time Yusuke and the rest of his team had made it to the door, Yusuke had just about had enough of listening to Kuwabara shouting in his ear.

"I just don't understand why you would ever agree!" the redhead shouted for the millionth time.

The Spirit Detective sighed and turned around to face his team. "Look, to be honest I regret saying yes. Koenma blind-sided me by saying that everyone deserves a second chance. I didn't really have a response to that. If not for second chances I would be dead right now. In fact, if it weren't for third chances and fourths, I would be on the streets. I've screwed up more times than anyone should ever be allowed to. If that means we have to spend a couple weeks with them, so be it."

Kuwabara nodded. Kurama and Hiei had been quiet throughout this exchange and Yusuke suspected that they had already been able to guess the reasoning behind his decision. "Alright, so does this mean that we don't have to actually get along with them?"

"Nope. But seriously, they can still kill us, so be careful. We know that overall, we're stronger, but that doesn't mean they couldn't cause serious damage if we're stupid about it."

"That's encouraging," Kuwabara murmured.

"They want to be free, Yusuke," Kurama said in his usual quiet manner. "If they harm us, they'll lose that."

"Kurama is right. So long as you two idiots don't make it worth their while, they're going to do their best to behave. We are the ones with the power here," Hiei interjected.

"Alright, enough talking," Yusuke said, opening the door with more force than was necessary. He enjoyed the sound it made as it banged against the wall. Walking in, he took in the site of the house with interest. The front door opened into what was obviously the living room. It was a large one at that, with enough space to fit all of them at once. The tv at the front of the room was even larger than he could have hoped.

"This might not be so bad after all…" Kuwabara murmured.

"Alright, so first one to drop off their stuff and get back gets to pick the game!" Yusuke shouted, darting off. Behind him, he could hear Kuwabara shouting at him. The Spirit Detective may not have known the exact layout of the house, but it wasn't too difficult to figure out where the bedrooms would be. Running up the stairs, he nearly collided with a very large, very solid Toguro. If he'd hadn't been on stairs, he'd have stumbled back, but was instead forced to grip the railing beside him tightly to keep from falling.

"It's about time you showed up," Toguro remarked.

"…Yeah."

Toguro stared down at Yusuke and the Spirit Detective didn't know what to do. He could feel Kuwabara and the others come up behind him and felt that he had to say something.

"You guys better not have taken all the good rooms," he finally managed to get out, though it was half-hearted.

The larger fighter smirked and stepped aside. "The rooms with the doors open are the ones that haven't been taken."

Nodding, Yusuke passed Toguro in the stairs, wanting desperately to be able to think clearly, but being unable to. With an effort, he forced himself to grin.

"Hey, Kuwabara, stop staring. I'm gonna kick your ass!" That seemed the perfect thing to get things going. The shouting once again started up. Yusuke hurried into the nearest open room and tossed his backpack and other bag on the floor. Quickly, he opened up the backpack and pulled out the gamecube he had brought just in case. Cords and controllers in his arms, he darted out of the room and made it to the first floor first. Satisfied that he had won, he began setting things up, no longer rushing.

"I thought you were tired of playing games with him every day," Toguro remarked from nearby.

Yusuke shrugged. He could not shake the feeling that having Toguro of all people talk to him normally was just about the weirdest thing he'd ever seen.

For a minute, the Spirit Detective was determined to just ignore the man, but then an idea occurred to him. Smirking evilly, he turned back to Toguro and dangled a controller back and forth playfully. "Wanna play?"

((-))

AN: Trust me, things will only get funny from here. This first chapter was a lot more serious than I had intended it to be, but the rest of the story is much more light-hearted. Or at least, I hope it will be. Now, on to the challenge. as I mentioned before, I am thoroughly depressed at the lack of any stories involving Toguro, specifically any that have Yusuke in them as well. He is, imo, the best bad guy in the series and I find it very sad that there is so little with him in it.

Challenge: For every 1000+ word fic someone writes with Toguro and Yusuke as the main characters, I will write one YYH fic of their choosing. It will be between 1000 and 5000 words and you may choose the characters/plot/anything. Just send the link of the fic to me and tell me what you want.

If I were to get even one fic out of this, I would be a very happy person. Any comments/suggestions for this fic are also welcome, since I really only had vague ideas when I started XD


	2. Chapter 2

A big thank you to the two people who reviewed. Reviews make me so happy. This chapter is much more fun than the last. I get the feeling that my biggest challenge with this fic will be balancing between the fun moments and the serious ones. I do want there to be serious moments to this fic, but overall, it should be pretty amusing ;)

Chapter 2: Video Game Violence

By the time Kuwabara made it back downstairs, Xbox 360 in-hand, he was absolutely shocked to find Yusuke playing video games with Toguro of all people.

"Urameshi! What're you doing?" Kuwabara yelped as he set the system and its cords down onto the floor in front of the television.

"Kicking Toguro's ass," the Spirit Detective growled, not looking away from the screen as he tapped away at the controller furiously. In all honesty, the two were pretty evenly matched. This was somewhat disconcerting to the human, who was quite certain that the large man had never once held a video game controller.

Kuwabara stared at the two in awe. Yusuke was always pretty competitive when it came to gaming, but never had he seen a look of such absolute focus on his friend's face while playing before. It was like he was treating the match as an actual fight. Shrugging the shock off, Kuwabara grabbed the nearest controller, sat down in a nearby chair, and waited for the two to finish their match.

When the game was over Yusuke shouted in victory, turning a smug look in Toguro's direction. "Yes, I'm glad you are proud of your victory, Yusuke. It must have been quite the challenge to beat a demon who has never played before," Toguro remarked. His comment caused the teen to deflate quite a bit. Yusuke shot a glare at him before turning to look back at the screen.

"You demons always say that, but you're good at it anyways," Yusuke grumbled. When Toguro looked at him questioningly, he said, "Well, Hiei had never played before, but he almost managed to beat Kuwabara on his first try. Kurama too, though I'm pretty sure he was lying about never having played before."

"I told you, I had only played once before," Kurama said tartly as he came down the stairs, followed shortly by Hiei.

Without a word, the black-and-white-haired demon grabbed the remaining controller and took a seat on the floor in front of the couch where Yusuke and Toguro were sitting.

"Why do I get the feeling this is going to end violently?" Kurama sighed. None of the four answered him.

((-))

"Hiei, if you do that to me one more time, I swear…damnit!"

"You're only going after me because I'm about to die…"

"Well, maybe if you took the time to actually shield, you wouldn't get hit so often."

"I'm pretty sure you are not allowed to do that."

"There's no rules to this! Damnit, again?"

"I call next game!"

"In your dreams, I've already got it."

"You do realize that we could just keep alternating right?"

What had started off as a slightly-competitive game had progressively grown into all-out war by the time the rest of the Toguro team found their way into the room. So far the situation hadn't grown violent, as Kurama had feared, but things were far from peaceful. Yusuke was quite sure that Hiei had a personal vendetta against him, though that may have just been because the two were the best players.

With a frustrated shout, Yusuke tossed his controller to the floor when Kurama managed to sneak in the final blow that killed him. He watched with some satisfaction as Bui managed to kill him after that, though the axe-wielder was swiftly taken out by Hiei, who won the game. The fire demon smirked victoriously and handed the controller off.

"You do seem to have a bad temper when it comes to video games," Toguro remarked as he picked up the controller that Yusuke had thrown in his annoyance.

"Temper? I was just having fun," Yusuke informed him with surprise. Admittedly, he usually didn't get this mad when he lost. If he were forced to be honest with himself, he's say that he wanted to be the best in front of these guys.

Toguro seemed somewhat surprised at his remark, but didn't say any more about it, since it was his turn to play and the game was starting. Yusuke leaned back into the couch to watch with curiosity, though it wasn't the game he was watching.

The elder Toguro brother was sitting nearby, watching the screen intently as he tried to play. In all honesty, he was worse than Kuwabara. No coordination whatsoever when it came to using a video game controller. Yusuke would have expected Toguro to comment on this matter, but neither of the two had said one word to each other since the elder's arrival with Karasu half an hour ago. The Spirit Detective supposed that he should have suspected it, though, given the terms the two of them left on. Yusuke only hoped that they didn't fight at all during the next few weeks.

Standing behind the couch, and starting to get very into the game, was Karasu. While the bomb-wielder wasn't nearly as excited as Yusuke and Kuwabara, he had sworn at them several times for killing him. It was a reaction that surprise Yusuke, though he had done his best not to say anything. Kurama was not at all pleased with the demon's presence, so the teen hadn't wanted to do too much to aggravate his friend.

"Wow, you guys suck!" Kuwabara shouted, breaking Yusuke's thought process.

"I'm sorry, they don't exactly have video games in the demon world," Karasu snapped, eyes focused intently on the television.

"Kuwabara, you play it all the time and you still suck," Yusuke remarked, feeling the need to take his friend down a peg. He was never able to resist.

"Go ahead, mock us while you may," Elder Toguro growled as he lost another life. "We'll see how happy you are when you wake up to find your precious video games broken into little pieces."

"Hey! This one's mine!" Yusuke yelped. "And I have kicked peoples' asses for way less than threatening my video game systems!" Toguro snorted from beside him, causing Yusuke to direct a sharp glare at the large demon. "You got something to say?" Toguro managed to shake his head without looking away from the screen, though the smirk remained.

When the game ended, Yusuke was about to accept the controller again, but changed his mind at the last minute. "Actually, is there any food in this house?" he asked.

"No, the true test is to see whether or not we each other," Hiei announced sarcastically, earning a snicker or two from the various demons in the room.

"Very funny Hiei. I'd bet you'd like that. No one would want to eat you, you're too small," Kuwabara told him. "Not that anybody's gonna be eating anybody." When five demons suddenly turned to give him predatory grins, the teen's face fell. "You're all just doing that to mess with me…"

"Make no doubt, Demons eat other demons if there is no choice in the matter," Hiei told him viciously.

"Um…Urameshi, are you sure this whole staying here thing was a good idea?" Kuwabara asked nervously.

"Ugh, I'm gonna start eating people if I don't get something to eat," Yusuke exclaimed. Getting out of his seat, he hopped over controller cords and made his way out of the living room, followed closely by Kurama.

A quick exploration of the house led them to the kitchen. On the way, they passed what they both recognized as a training room where they could spar. "Yeah, that's probably not the best idea," Yusuke remarked as the two entered the kitchen. "Even if it was a friendly match, I'm pretty sure any one of us would destroy the house…"

"Well, Hiei can always meditate in there. So long as no one actually fought, the room could still have its uses," Kurama told him.

Yusuke nodded and opened the door to the fridge. A huge grin split his face. It was packed as full as it could get with food. A quick walk around the kitchen and he found that all the cupboards were full as well. "I think I could just live here," he said with glee.

"Sadly enough, it's really not enough to get us through more than one week," Kurama told him, looking around curiously.

"Really? This much?"

"Yusuke, you and Kuwabara could go through this in less than a month. You do realize just how many people are in this house right now, right? I'm sure Toguro and Bui eat quite a bit too," the voice-of-reason informed him.

"Yeah, but Elder Toguro doesn't eat at all, so that evens it out, right?" the Spirit Detective joked.

"I assure you, I do eat," said demon told him from the doorway.

"You're like a ninja, you know that?" Yusuke told him flatly. He hadn't even realized the demon was there. "Um…I hope Spirit World has a way of getting food to us, then. Cause I would hate to have to eat Kuwabara." This got him a laugh out of Kurama and a smirk from the elder Toguro brother.

"If you're going to refer to me, please call me Ani," the demon told Yusuke. He walked over to the fridge and began looking around inside.

"Um…why?"

"Well, if you insist on calling my brother Toguro, then I refuse to be known by the same name," Ani informed him tartly. He pulled out several things and set them on the counter. "Not to mention, you sound like an idiot, tripping over so many syllables when you try and say my name."

"Gee thanks."

Once Ani had grabbed bread from a cupboard and set to making his food, the teen came to the startling realization that the demon was making himself a sandwich. It was such a bizarre image that he couldn't help but burst into laughter. When the demon turned a questioning glare at him, his laughter halted abruptly and he turned to see what Kurama was doing. The red-head seemed to just be going through the cupboards one-at-a-time and not really picking anything. "What're you looking for?" he asked.

"I wanted to see just what we had here and if there was anything Hiei or I liked. He still doesn't know how to cook you know," Kurama informed him.

"That's really not that surprising. I barely know how to cook. Kuwabara's cooking is either hit or miss. Sometimes it's absolutely amazing and sometimes he tries to experiment." The Spirit Detective shuddered at this. He looked curiously at the food in the cupboards while Kurama went through them. "I hope everyone likes pasta," he muttered when they opened a cupboard stocked with nothing but pasta and jars of sauce.

"This will work for tonight, I guess," Kurama said, taking down a couple boxes of pasta and some sauce. "You want some right?"

"Sure, I guess. It's better than anything I could make for myself," Yusuke answered.

"Ani, do Karasu or Bui know how to cook?" Kurama asked, looking over his shoulder at the demon who, by now, had put everything away and was sitting in a chair eating his sandwich.

"My brother can barely even cook and he was human," Ani told them snidely. "Karasu still doesn't understand why blowing something up enough times won't cook it and Bui usually won't even bother."

Yusuke stared at the demon for a second before shaking his head. "You better take down a few more boxes," he suggested.

((-))

AN: So, that's the second chapter. Questions/comments are welcome. :D


	3. Chapter 3

This chapter is one of the more serious ones I mentioned. Though, if you have a sense of humor anything like mine, you'll find that it's funny either way XD

Chapter 3: Memories

Kurama was on the verge of throwing Yusuke from the kitchen. The Spirit Detective couldn't help but hover over the pot of pasta or tasting the sauce as it heated up. Much as the red-head tried to cook without letting the teen get in the way, even he had a limit to his patience. Yusuke was about to leave on his own when he saw Bui entering the kitchen curiously.

The large fighter looked around curiously before heading over to the cupboards. Nearby, Yusuke could hear Ani snicker. It was obvious that Bui really had no idea what to do about the food situation, but was going to just do his own thing if he had to.

"Would you like some pasta when it's finished?" Kurama asked, glancing over at the demon. Yusuke found himself a bit surprised at red-head's generosity; if it were him, he'd have at least made the guy ask for it. But he supposed that Kurama must have his reasons. If he thought it, it really was better to try and get along with these guys than to be combative at every step. While Yusuke understood the logic in this, he didn't think it would help next time he was looking up at Toguro.

Shaking his head, Yusuke exited the kitchen and went back to the living room where there were no only four playing. Kuwabara and Karasu had already died, leaving Toguro and Hiei to fight it out. It was clear that Hiei was going to win, though Toguro was doing very well given that he'd only just learned.

"Who died first?" he asked.

"He did," Karasu responded immediately. Kuwabara muttered something under his breath about cheaters who teamed up on people.

Shaking his head, Yusuke grabbed the controller from his friend and took his place back on the couch just as Hiei won. "You're going down this time, Hiei," Yusuke informed him, choosing his character on the main screen.

"Kills or survival?" the fire demon asked, smirking.

"Kills, but if that's even, then it's whoever dies last," Yusuke decided.

"Could you translate that?" Karasu asked, turning to Kuwabara. Somehow the way the demon said it made it sound like less of a question and more of a demand for an answer.

"They're deciding who wins, whoever gets the most kills or whoever dies last," Kuwabara answered. "Basically, they're not going to attack each other until you two are dead because they think killing you will be easier than killing each other."

"Awe, Kuwabara, you can't ruin it like that!" Yusuke shouted at him as the game started.

"Well, Urameshi, maybe you two shouldn't be so arrogant about how good you are!"

"I think we should be offended," Toguro remarked, directing his comment towards Karasu.

"What exactly do you think we should do about that?" Karasu asked. There was a certain strain in his voice that was characteristic of one who was highly focused on what he was doing and not on what he was saying.

In the end, Toguro never gave him an answer. Yusuke and Hiei easily managed to beat the two demons. While Toguro and Karasu were both great given that they'd never played, it was obvious that they didn't stand a chance when the two worked together. Once it came down to Yusuke and Hiei, the two took their time, though eventually the Spirit Detective managed to come out victorious.

"Yes! In your face, Hiei! I got more kills than you too!" Yusuke exclaimed, thoroughly enjoying his win. "Hah! I killed you every time!" the teen told Toguro, looking at him smugly. The demon's face was unreadable behind his sunglasses, so Yusuke could only imagine the look the man was giving him.

Hiei got to his feat and tossed Kuwabara his controller before heading off, presumably towards the kitchen. Yusuke was beginning to be able to smell the sauce and couldn't wait till it was done.

"Alright Urameshi, now it's your turn to lose!" Kuwabara told him.

"Are you kidding me? I could beat every one of you," Yusuke declared, smirking as the game started up. Immediately, he went after Kuwabara, knocking the other human around a bit before jumping over to one of the two demons to continue his assault. It didn't take long for each of them to lose a life, while he still had all of his. "And he takes the lead," the Spirit Detective announced. "Looks like Kuwabara isn't doing too good. Oh, but he sneaks in with an attack, destroying Karasu! Toguro is trying to defeat Yusuke, but he's not having any luck."

"Do you have to do that?" Toguro asked him.

"Yeah, Urameshi, shut up!" Kuwabara shouted.

"Just announcing the game," Yusuke said innocently. He winced sympathetically as he killed Toguro once again. "It just takes practice," he told Toguro with a wicked grin. His face dropped suddenly when Toguro leaned forward and unplugged Yusuke's controller before the teen had a chance to react.

"Feel free to attack him now," Toguro told the other two. Yusuke attempted to yank the controller away from him, but was thoroughly unsuccessful, due to the strong grip the demon had on it. "I don't think so, Yusuke. If you're going to insist on acting like an arrogant child, you'll get treated like one."

Yusuke stared at Toguro, mouth agape. He got to his feet, prepared to put a greater effort into getting his controller cord back, even if it meant he had to tackle Toguro and rip it from his hands. However, he was halted when Toguro stood up as well, game forgotten. Yusuke had to crane his neck to look up to Toguro's face. He became intensely aware of the demon's proximity and was starkly reminded of how afraid he'd been when Toguro came to see him about the Dark Tournament. This wasn't like that, he tried to remind himself. Somehow, that didn't seem to stop the sickly feeling that rose up in his gut.

"Whatever," he muttered, taking a step back from Toguro to try and get some distance between them. He was so caught up that he didn't realize that Karasu and Kuwabara had paused the game to watch. Yusuke managed to shoot the demon a half-hearted glare before leaving the room as quickly as possible. He practically ran up the stairs, not wanting to see anyone in the kitchen, but very much wanting to get away.

Entering his room, Yusuke slammed the door shut and sat down on the floor in front of his bed. He hadn't really gotten a chance to think yet when he heard a knock on the door. "Go away!" he shouted. The door opened. Kuwabara walked in, closing it behind him. The red-head took a seat on the floor and sighed.

"He still bothers you that much?" Kuwabara asked quietly. "You were acting like you didn't mind him at all."

"I didn't. He's just so…tall and big. This is insane!" the Spirit Detective suddenly shouted. "I beat him! Not the other way around! He should be the one afraid of me!" Kuwabara looked like he was on the verge of laughter at this and Yusuke couldn't help a little smile of his own.

"I don't think he was trying to scare you Urameshi," Kuwabara told him honestly. "I think he was expecting you to fight back. He seemed a bit surprised when you freaked out."

Yusuke scoffed. "He has no right to be surprised. It's his fault I'm this damn messed up in the first place."

"You were messed up long before you met him."

"You know what I mean. He was the one… You know, I had nightmares about him for most of the Dark Tournament. I still had them after. I kept dreaming he'd come back. When I saw him in Koenma's office, I wasn't actually scared. I guess I'd just forgotten what scared me about him in the first place." Yusuke shrugged. "I'm surprised you took Ani's presence so well."

Kuwabara tensed up at this. "Yeah, I'm just gonna pretend he's not there," the teen said quickly.

Yusuke nodded. Just then there was another knock on the door. Getting to his feet, the Spirit Detective opened it to reveal Hiei. "Kurama sent me to tell you that the food's ready," he informed them. Yusuke and Kuwabara's faces split into huge grins. Hiei had actually played messenger to tell them that. Realizing why they were so amused, the fire demon glared at them. "I will eat it all without you," he said tartly, disappearing back down the stairs.

"Oh well, I'll be fine, I guess," Yusuke said, heading out the door with Kuwabara shortly behind him. "I was just surprised."

They passed through the living room and saw that it was empty, controllers lying on the floor. "Just how big is this kitchen?" Kuwabara asked nervously.

"Well…it's pretty big." Yusuke was expecting the kitchen to look something like a warzone when he finally arrived and was amused to find all the demons sitting at stools around the counter. He stared in shock at the site. "Kurama can get anyone to sit and behave…"

((-))

AN: Another appearance by Karasu. I'm not really content with how I've been writing him so far, so expect to see him a bit more in the next chapter. Other than that, I guess I don't really have a whole lot to say about this chapter. Just await the next one, really. And please review, they make me happy ;)


	4. Chapter 4

Hey there all! Here's the next chapter. I've been trying to update this frequently since the chapters aren't really all that long. Trust me, I know that most people do chapters that are much longer and I kinda wish I did, though I never seem to put in the effort to change how I write. Hopefully as this goes on I'll be able to get myself to include more in the chapters instead of just cutting off at a convenient point.

Chapter 4: I am no dishwasher

Dinner did not go as well as Yusuke would have guess upon seeing everyone sitting at the table like good little children. He and Kuwabara entered the room and took seats around the counter with everyone else. Sitting around the counter allowed them all to look around and see one another face-to-face, and it was obvious to Yusuke from the start that this was a bad idea.

For one, Kuwabara was sitting directly across from Ani and hadn't looked up from his plate once, not even when the food came around to him. Yusuke, for his part, found the elder Toguro brother far less threatening after watching him eat a sandwich and act in such a genuinely human way. He knew the demon was still absolutely insane, but much of the fear was gone due to seeing him in a normal situation.

To someone who didn't know him, Kurama would have appeared perfectly happy with the situation at hand. He wasn't avoiding looking at Karasu and remained cheerful as everyone started to eat. Yusuke, however, could see a certain tensing in the red-head's shoulders that warned him that all was not well. The Spirit Detective tried not to let himself think about what Karasu had done to Kurama. He knew that if he did, the only acceptable response after thinking about it would be to get up from his seat and beat the bomb-wielder to a bloody pulp. That probably wasn't a good idea, so he forced himself to direct his attention elsewhere.

Hiei. The fire demon was probably the only normal one of them. He had had no personal connection to Bui and, in the end, had come out victorious. While Hiei was certainly prone to bad moods, he seemed to not be in one at the moment. Well, that was good. Yusuke didn't need all of his team freaking out.

Luckily for Yusuke, Toguro was sitting at an angle to him, so it was much easier to ignore the demon's presence if he didn't have to look at him. Talking about his fear to Kuwabara had actually helped and he thought he'd be able to face the man again. If only he could forget just how strong the demon was. Yeah…right. Well, he had managed to bullshit his way into confidence before. So long as he didn't let it show again just how afraid he still was of the man, he'd be fine.

The table was oddly silent given how many people were sitting there. He guess the members of Team Toguro didn't really want to talk to each other. "Do you wanna play more video games after we finish eating?" Yusuke asked, directing his question towards Kuwabara, but leaving it open for everyone to answer.

"Alright, but we're playing my system this time," Kuwabara informed him. He still hadn't looked up from his food.

Well that wouldn't do, Yusuke thought. "Your system sucks. There's more to do on mine."

"What are you talking about Urameshi, you've only got one multiplayer game," Kuwabara told him, finally looking up, though he kept his gaze firmly on Yusuke. The Spirit Detective noted that the rest of the table seemed highly interested in their conversation. Probably because it was the only one going on.

The Spirit Detective shrugged. "Well, we could always show them one of the others. I've always wondered if Toguro would be good at Pikmin," he said with a wide grin. In fact, he'd never wondered that before, but now that he had, he was dying to see it.

Finally, Kuwabara laughed, nearly choking on his spaghetti. "He might even be worse than you!"

"Hey! I'm not that bad!"

"Yusuke, I don't think I've ever seen anyone make such a face of despair as when you heard the shrieks telling you that you'd drowned your entire group," Hiei informed him with a smirk.

"I don't see why you're making fun of me," Yusuke grumbled. "You won't even play it."

"Kurama is the plant master," was the only response the fire demon gave.

"They're not actually plants," Kurama informed the confused demons who were still listening. "Anyways, Yusuke, don't you think you should unpack at some point?"

"No, not really. Why?" Yusuke asked with fake confusion.

The plant master sighed, though he seemed amused. His face turned blank for a moment before settling on resignation. "Actually, everyone, there is a matter I'd like to discuss. It seems like it would be easier on everyone if we did a group dinner, not that we always have to eat together, but if we did one dinner every night that everyone would eat. I think it would work better than each of us fending for ourselves, which might be a bit annoying. I also know that some people here may not be able to cook as well as others."

Silence met the plant user's suggestion and he raised his eyebrows at them expectantly. Finally, Toguro was the first one to speak. "I agree, that would probably work best."

"That sounds like a good idea, Kurama," Yusuke said, feeling the need to speak up for his friend.

"What if we don't want to cook for everyone?" Ani asked sharply.

"Then you may cook for yourself every night while we are here," Kurama answered. His voice was polite, though it carried an edge that Yusuke took to mean Kurama was expecting everyone to go along with it.

"What about the ones who can't cook?" Kuwabara asked, shooting a glance at Hiei.

"Well, I figured that the ones who didn't cook could be responsible for doing the dishes afterwards." That was where the fun really started.

"No," Hiei said flatly.

"Hiei, you can't cook and you know it. You'll have to just go along with it," Kurama scolded.

"No."

Ani looked over at Karasu and smirked in a way that sent shivers down the Spirit Detective's spine. "I guess that means you'll be doing dishes Karasu. And by do them, I don't mean blow them up," the demon told him.

"What? I can cook," Karasu defended, sounding affronted. "Just because it's not the best thing you've ever had-"

"If Karasu is cooking, then I don't think I'll be eating," Toguro announced with amusement. Yusuke couldn't help but snicker at the annoyed look that was now on the bomb-wielder's face.

"I can cook," the long-haired demon repeated stubbornly.

"I believe the consensus is that it would probably be better if you didn't, Karasu," Kurama interjected, still sounding polite. "Washing dishes really isn't that big a deal," he added, shooting Hiei a glare. "It's easier than cooking that much food for everyone and it won't really take that long."

"Demons do not need to wash dishes," the bomb-wielder informed him scathingly. "You humans may do as you wish, but just because we're living together doesn't mean we have to agree with you."

Kurama's eyes narrowed dangerously at this, all pretenses of being polite gone. "If you don't want to do it, feel free to get your own food. You of all people should know that no one here will care if you go hungry," the fox told him coldly. Yusuke wanted to cheer Kurama on, but knew that that would probably not be a good idea.

"I'll just steal some of yours," Karasu told him with a smirk. "I know you'd love to give me some." The wink was enough to throw Yusuke's worry into panic.

Yusuke turned to watch Kurama closely and was surprised, and a bit freaked out, to notice green thorns peeking out from his long red hair. Hints of other plant-life could be seen peaking from his sleeves and shirt. That was not good. It looked like he was preparing to be attacked. He was arguing with Karasu, of all people, and it wasn't surprising that he would get very defensive in such a situation. This had to stop now.

Before Kurama could respond, Yusuke burst out, "Wow, Kurama, I didn't mention it before, but this food is really good." An awkward silence met his exclamation, but the Spirit Detective plowed on. "I probably wouldn't be able to cook as good if I did that. I don't mind doing dishes if we don't have enough people for that, though I can cook okay."

"Maybe we should make a list of who has what responsibility," Toguro suggested from where he was sitting. At any other time, Yusuke might have been shocked and highly amused by the suggestion, but now he was just glad to have the support.

"There's a dry-erase board on the fridge," Yusuke noted. He got up from his seat and walked over to the refrigerator and pulled it off, happy to see that there was a marker attached to it as well. Sitting back down, he drew two columns. "Alright, who wants what?"

"Me for cooking obviously," Kurama said, voice calm and even. Even though he seemed to have relaxed quite a bit, Yusuke could still see hints of green dotting his person.

"I can cook," Kuwabara announced.

"Sometimes," Yusuke muttered, but wrote his friend's name down anyways.

Both Toguro and Ani volunteered. Yusuke wasn't entirely sure that he trusted either of them to cook his food, but decided not to worry. They had both been human for long enough to learn and since they were all eating the same food, it was unlikely for them to try to poison the whole group.

"Well, that's half of us. I guess I'll do dishes then," Yusuke volunteered, writing his name down. "Hiei, Bui?"

"Sure," was the only response from Bui, and the Spirit Detective was kind of surprised that he got even that much.

"No," the fire demon repeated his earlier response.

"Hiei," Yusuke growled threateningly. "You can't cook. You need to eat. Just do it."

"Hn."

Taking that as the closest thing to a yes he'd get, Yusuke wrote his teammate's name down. "Last chance Karasu. Although, I must admit, I really would like to see if blowing something up would actually cook it…"

"Well, then I guess I'll have to agree just to save you the pleasure," the bomb-wielder said coldly.

"Then it's settled," Yusuke declared with false cheer. He walked back over to the fridge and stuck the board back on, magnet holding it up easily. "Now, I don't know about you guys, but I wasn't finished eating yet." Yusuke returned to his food and the room went quiet again. He really hoped things would get better or these next few weeks would suck even worse than he'd originally thought they would.

((-))

AN: I guess we can just consider this a sort of transition/in-between chapter. Not a whole lot actually happens, but I was trying to focus more on the characters this time. Karasu didn't quite come out as I originally planned, but meh. I know he seems a bit like he's complaining over nothing in this chapter, but I'm thinking that he was really trying to piss Kurama off than actually argue an important point. I'll probably say that in the story later, but just so you people didn't think I was going to make him whiny. Anyways, my biggest concern right now is characterization. I feel like so long as everyone's in character, I can make the funny happen along the way. So, my question is, who do you feel is the most out-of-character (if any) and what do you think should be changed?


	5. Chapter 5

Alright, this chapter is dedicated to Sekah, who inspired me to get to work on a chapter of this. This chapter didn't flow exactly the way that I wanted it too, but it needed to happen. I'll try and actually work on the next chapter within a reasonable amount of time this time. It shouldn't be as hard after this, though I'm still not entirely sure which direction I'm taking this story.

Chapter 5: Past Actions

After dinner, Yusuke found himself as the first one to do dishes. It didn't seem like they'd be playing too many more video games on their first night. As soon as they were done eating, Hiei, Ani, Bui, and Karasu practically disappeared out of the kitchen, probably to go hide out in their rooms. Toguro left shortly after. Kuwabara ended up going to play a game by himself, since Yusuke would have to wash dishes. Kurama stuck around for a bit and during this time, the Spirit Detective tried to talk to his friend about the situation with Karasu. However the fox would have none of it, insisted he was okay, and headed off on his own as well.

Yusuke knew that Kurama needed to talk about it, but couldn't help but regret asking, if only because he was now alone in the room.

"It's alright guys," Yusuke muttered to himself as he washed everyone's bowls one-by-one. "I'm fine here by myself. What do I need company for when I've got me?" he asked aloud, grinning in what could have been anger or blooming insanity.

"Absolutely nothing, that's what," he answered himself. "I'm just gonna sit here doing dishes. Some asses are too lazy to do them, so the responsibility falls to me. But that's alright, I can take it," he declared dramatically. "See, and I'm almost done."

"Do you always talk to yourself when you're alone?" Toguro asked from the doorway. He walked in and took a seat at the counter.

Yusuke couldn't deny that he was a bit proud of himself for not jumping, dropping the pot he was holding, or making any other visible signs that he had been startled by the demon's sudden presence. "Sometimes," he answered with a shrug. "I don't like silence." That wasn't entirely true. Yusuke liked the silence of places he was comfortable in, like Genkai's dojo. However, the silence of this house was just plain creepy and made him worry what its inhabitants were up to.

"Why did you run away before?" Toguro asked flatly.

The teen wasn't sure if he should be surprised or just pissed that Toguro was being so blunt about asking what had happened before. He'd barely even bothered to make small talk before getting right to the point.

"I'm such a sore loser that I just didn't want to be around to watch my character get beaten up," Yusuke responded immediately.

"Very funny." There was a pause for a while, as if Toguro was waiting for something. Yusuke finished the last dish and turned around to face the demon. Apparently this was what he was waiting for. "Are you still afraid of me Yusuke?"

"How exactly are you expecting me to answer?" the Spirit Detective asked quietly. "If I say 'no', you'll think I'm lying and if I say 'yes', then what? Please don't tell me that you feel guilty or anything. I think I just might throw up," he said, giving the tall man a taunting smirk in an attempt to cover the seriousness of the situation.

Toguro grimaced and Yusuke couldn't help but be grateful for that one visible sign of what the man felt. "Do you realize how obvious you make it to people when you're uncomfortable?"

"No, but feel free to tell me, as I'm sure you'll do anyway."

"You're starting to get on my nerves," Toguro warned him.

Yusuke, however, was in no mood to take any warnings given to him by Toguro. In an effort to prove to himself that he wasn't afraid, he sneered, "Is that supposed to bother me?"

Finally reaching the end of his patience, the demon quickly walked over to stand, towering, over the much shorter human. Yusuke pressed himself against the edge of the sink to avoid contact and stared up the long distance to Toguro's face. The black sunglasses stared back at him, expressionless. Yusuke was hit suddenly with a memory of staring up at Toguro while they were fighting in that parking garage.

Mentally, the teen berated himself. What in all of the human world was he doing? Growling, Yusuke ducked away from Toguro and stepped around to the other side of the counter.

"Don't do that again," he said threateningly.

"You look like a cat that's been cornered. There's really no need. Even if we fought, you would probably fair much better against me now," Toguro informed him.

Yusuke grimaced. "No, I wouldn't. You may be weakened, but you're still a better fighter. Unless you tried to kill one of my friends again, I doubt I'd be able to manage it," the teen admitted, mentally shuddering at the memory of Kuwabara's bloody form after Toguro had 'killed' him. He still hadn't quite gotten over that, though his friend probably thought he had.

"I'm not going to fight you."

"How can I believe that? You would just say it so that I drop my guard," Yusuke accused, somewhat childishly.

"Yusuke, have I ever been anything but upfront with you?"

It was at this point that Yusuke began to feel childish as well. "You make it sound like you expect me to suddenly except that you're good or to just think that you're evil and attack you. Look, Toguro, I know that there's more to you than what I saw, that's why you went to Limbo willingly. I also know the circumstances that led to you becoming a demon," the Spirit Detective informed him.

"I know."

"Well, I know that because the Tournament is over. It's over. I've been living in the human world for a couple months and just when I start to feel normal again, I see you and the rest of your team. You have no idea how much I want to kill Karasu and Ani. They deserve it. There's nothing you could say to convince me otherwise. I can't control myself around them, then bounce back and forth with you, keep my team calm, and all while not destroying this damned house." Yusuke's voice was strong, even as he admitted this.

"I understand," Toguro said, nodding. "As I said before, I do not believe that I deserve to be free, but I want it anyways. I'm not here to mess with you."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go steal the tv from Kuwabara. He's got some good games on his system and some of them are multiplayer," Yusuke suggested, exiting the kitchen. As they walked down the hall, the teen couldn't help but wonder what kind of messed up conversation they'd just had. Replaying it in his mind, he had to wonder why he'd admitted all that stuff to Toguro. Well, if he was honest with himself, it wasn't like the demon couldn't have figured it out anyways.

"So…you are afraid of me?" Toguro asked. From the tone in his voice and slight upturn of his lips, the teen realized that the man was teasing him.

Yusuke shot him a glare. "Shut up."

((-))

"Karasu."

Karasu looked up from where he sat on his bed to find Hiei standing in the door. The fire demon entered the room and closed the door behind him.

"What do you want, fire demon?" the bomb-weilder asked sharply.

"I want you to back off of Kurama. You're not charming anyone with your attitude," Hiei informed him sharply.

"Awe, this is sweet," Karasu said mockingly. He got to his feet and stood facing the much smaller demon. "Coming to defend your friend? I didn't think you cared that much."

"I came here because Kurama wouldn't. You're getting on my nerves, crow. Leave him alone and keep your mouth shut while you're here."

"And if I don't?" Karasu asked, smirking wickedly.

"Then I will kill you. As Kurama said before, no one here will defend you if I decide to do so. You have no friends here. No one cares if you live or die," Hiei warned him.

"Ah, but if that's the case, then there's no hope for me anyway. You'll all send me back to the Spirit World whether I'm nice or not. If that's the case, why should I be nice? Why shouldn't I enjoy my time here?" the demon asked smoothly.

The fire demon's eyes narrowed sharply. Rather than make some flashy display or threat that would have no effect on the other demon, he simply gave him a dark look and left the room, leaving the door open behind him.


End file.
